My U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,889 discloses an illuminated gunsight for mounting on a weapon to permit the user to aim and shoot in both daytime conditions and low-light conditions. The sighting device includes a U-shaped channel with a pair of fluorescent lines located along the bottom of the sighting channel. The fluorescent lines act as quick reference to enable the user to quickly sight in on the target. In the daytime use of the gunsight shown in my patent, the user's eye is first drawn to the fluorescent lines followed by the user peering through the channel to locate the target.
My present invention also uses a U-shaped channel with sighting lines to enable the user to even more quickly aim a weapon. Briefly, the present invention utilizes the sighting surfaces on the topmost surfaces of the sights so that the eye does not have to search in the channel for the fluorescent sighting lines. That is, with the sight shown in my patent, if the weapon is not in initial alignment with the target the user only sees a portion of the fluorescent sighting strips. With my present invention the user immediately sees the location of the entire sighting surfaces even if the weapon is not in alignment with the target, since the sight lines are on top of the sighting channel. For example, if the user has to rotate the weapon to get the sights into initial alignment, the user can readily do so since the sighting surfaces are located on top of the sighting channel and thus readily visible to the user because the sighting surfaces are not obscured by the sidewalls of the gunsight.
The present invention further differs from the sighting device shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,889 in the manner of location of the gunsight. The gunsight shown in my patent mounts along the entire length of the barrel of a hand gun or revolver whereas the present invention can be mounted on the portion of a semi-automatic pistol slide in front of the ejection port, yet still provide an accurate sight. The present invention can also be adapted to revolvers and hand-held weapons.
In one embodiment the present invention includes a front sight post with an opening therein where the user can exchange colored inserts to provide the sight post with a color that contrasts with the target.
In another embodiment the present invention includes a foldable rear sight in conjunction with my front sight to permit a user to aim a gun in either of two modes, the both eyes open quick aim channel sight mode, or the both eyes open two sight mode that uses my channel sight as a front sight and a foldable rear sight located behind my channel sight.
In another embodiment the invention includes a permanent rear sight for use in conjunction with my channel sight to permit the user to have the advantage of both eyes open shooting when a conventional sight picture is presented to the user.